Hidden
by BellaDeS
Summary: After the war, Harry and Ginny went into hiding with their godson. They did a perfect job of that until one morning, everything they had worked for came crashing down. Read on as they go back and face what they had left behind. Cannon pairings: H/G, R/H, B/F etc. AU, does not comply with JK Rowling's epilogue.
1. Prologue

A lot good things happened in Harry's life in the five years after the war. He got a job in the Auror Office, married Ginny, and life in general began to settle down. However these weren't without their negative counterparts.

In early 2002, Andromeda was murdered by her brother-in-law, Rudolphus Lestrange. Rudolphus had been on the run and evading capture ever since the Battle of Hogwarts when Lord Voldemort met his end. His act had left poor Ted Lupin without any blood relatives.

In her will, Andromeda had named Harry and Ginny as guardians, so Teddy moved in with them straight away.

This combined with the numerous attempts of Harry's and Ginny's lives, had pushed the couple over the edge.

Six months following Andromeda's death, they stopped attending the social functions which they were expected to as Deputy Head Auror and Chaser of the Holyhead Harpies. Nine months after, they stopped having family to stay as they secretly packed up the upper floors of their Godrics's Hollow Cottage. Exactly one year on, their fireplace was blocked off, they resigned from their jobs, and one million galleons was removed from the Potter family vault and exchanged into muggle money. By the time this news reached the ears of their family and the media, Harry Potter, Ginny Potter and Teddy Lupin had disappeared without a trace.


	2. The Life and Lies of the Parkers

The father of the house rushed down the stairs. He was dressed in a grey suit with a red tie and a pale blue shirt. He had startling turquoise eyes and short, black hair; from a distance, his face was free of any blemishes or imperfections

He jogged into the kitchen and picked up a couple of slices of toast, which his wife had just put a plate of in the middle of the oak table, around which four children sat munching away at various breakfast foods.

The woman had shoulder length, flaming red hair and chocolate coloured eyes and was wearing her nightdress underneath her purple, cotton dressing gown.

The oldest was a boy. He had his father's hair, but his mother's facial features, he was coming up to the age of eleven and was wearing his school uniform: grey shorts and socks, a navy polo shirt with a navy blazer, and black shoes.

The second oldest was a carbon copy of his father, except he had bright green eyes and didn't wear glasses. He was about nine and was wearing the same uniform as his brother.

The youngest was a girl of seven with long, wavy, deep red hair in a plait, a shade or two darker than her mother's, and brown eyes. She wore the same polo shirt as her brothers but had a navy jumper, not a blazer, a blue and red school pinafore instead of shorts, and navy tights.

The father walked over to his wife and kissed her on the cheek, the hugged each of his children goodbye.

'Let me know when you hear from Teddy!' He called as he walked out of the room, slightly panicked as he knew he would be late for work.

'Yes! I'll ring you when I get his letter!' The woman called just before she heard the from do slam as her husband left for his office in the centre of Bucharest.

You see the Parkers lived in Romania. They had done for the past two years. Before that it was California in the United States for three years, before that it was Singapore for eight months. Mr Parker worked as a project manager for an oil company and he had spent the last nine years after getting the job being posted from country to country, bringing his family with him every time his boss wanted him elsewhere in the world.

The Parkers had three biological children and one adopted child. Their three biological children were currently sitting eating their breakfast around the table, while their adopted child (Teddy) was older by a fair few years and was attending a boarding school in Scotland.

A perfectly normal expatriate family.

Well that's what everyone thought.

In actual fact, the Parkers weren't Parkers at all, they were Potters and they were hiding. Mr Potter's eyes were actually bright green with terrible vision but he wore blue, sight-correcting contact lenses (causing the surreal turquoise colour); his face wasn't free of imperfections, there was actually a lightning shaped scar upon his forehead, covered with concealer.

For her whole life, Mrs Potter had had long hair, passing her waist, but now it was cut short, and had been ever since early 2002.

Teddy wasn't even a Potter, he was a Lupin and the godson of Mr Potter.

The whole family was magical.

After a wizarding war in the United Kingdom and proceeding events, the Potters had gone into hiding with just three-and-half-year-old Teddy. Mr Potter had gone to university under an alias and gotten a degree and subsequently his current job. Using it to hide himself and his expanding family around the world. They never used their magic (except for Teddy when he was at school, which was a magical academy by the name of Hogwarts) for fear of being traced and they hadn't been back to England for almost a decade, despite the fact that they had a large amount of family in the West Country.

The doorbell rang. The children finished their mouthfuls then walked ahead of their mother to the front door where their school bags were lined up. Mrs Potter opened the front door and greeted Mrs Bauer, a German woman whose husband worked with Mr Potter and who had a daughter the same age as the youngest Potter boy. All four of them attended the international school a couple of miles away and Mrs Bauer and Mrs Potter shared lifts. It was Mrs Bauer's turn today.

Mrs Potter said goodbye to her three children then closed the door and proceeded to get ready for her day.

Once showered and dressed, Mrs Potter began to write a shopping list for her trip to the supermarket. She was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell again. Surprised, she left the kitchen and walked into the hall. She opened the door and when she saw who it was, her jaw dropped.

The old woman standing outside the door hadn't noticed this. She was looking at a sheet of paper in her hand.

'Is this the Parker residence?' She enquired as she looked up. When she looked at Mrs Potter, her eyes bulged. 'Ginny?' She sounded incredulous.

'Professor McGonagall...'


	3. James Parker -Muggleborn?

'Er... Please, come in Professor.' Ginny opened the door wider to allow her old Head of House to come in. The Professor was wearing a brown, tailored, muggle pencil skirt with a matching jacket and a white blouse. She showed her into the living room then made a cup of tea for them both. Ginny thought it was ironic how similar she had become to her mother - if there's a problem, make tea.

'What brings you here, Professor?' Ginny asked as she took a sip of her tea.

'I am here on official Hogwarts capacity. To inform a young, supposedly muggle-born James Parker and his parents of his being a wizard.' Professor McGonagall raised a sceptical eyebrow. Even in her old age she still looked intimidating.

'I see. Well that is understandable, it's James' eleventh birthday tomorrow.'

McGonagall nodded. 'Well here is James' letter, in any case. You won't be needing me to explain it to you.' Ginny saw a flicker of a smile cross her lips.

'No,' Ginny laughed, 'I shan't.'

A somewhat uncomfortable silence descended upon them.

'How was James' name added to the Book of Magical Children?' Ginny asked the question which had arisen in her mind and had been bothering her since McGonagall had stated her business. 'He was born in France, and he's never been to England.'

'The Book of Magical Children and its quill work in very strange ways. It is likely that as you and Harry are both British, his name was added at birth, though I cannot be sure.' Both women then looked at the letter to see the name of its addressee change from 'James Parker' to 'James Potter', they laughed. 'As I said, strange ways.'

Ginny nodded then looked out of the window, as if searching for something.

'Is everything alright, Ginevra?'

'Yes, yes. I'm sorry. I'm waiting for a letter from Teddy-'

'I'm sorry, Teddy? Are you referring to Ted Lupin?' Professor McGonagall interrupted. Ginny nodded. 'He has been living with you? After all this time?'

'Of course, why ever not? You didn't think Harry and I would just leave him, when we left, did you?'

'I didn't think so, although... others did.' She spoke carefully. Ginny raised her eyebrows, she had a feeling that it was a certain blonde-haired journalist and all of her readers.

'I don't think I want to know the answer.' Ginny shook her head.

'Yes, well. Teddy had been very tight lipped about where he had been living when not in Hogwarts for the time he has been a student there, however I do believe he told Headmaster Abercrombie as I was assured many times by him that Ted was in good hands. I now understand why.' The professor smiled, again. 'How have you and Harry been? It is absolutely wonderful to see you again, everyone was very shocked when you left.'

'I expect they were.' Ginny looked at a point just over the shoulder of Professor McGonagall. 'Harry wanted to tell people that we were leaving, and why we were doing it, but I said we couldn't. Everyone would've tried to stop us.' She tried to explain.

'Yes, we would've.' Agreed McGonagall. 'If you don't mind my asking, why did you decide to go?'

'It was too much. There was the issue with mine and Harry's security and by extension Teddy's, especially after Andromeda...' Ginny trailed off with tears in her eyes, Professor McGonagall put a hand on her shoulder.

Ginny then composed herself.

'We moved to Edinburgh and Harry got a degree in engineering then he was lucky enough to get his job in the oil company; we have been moving around from country to country ever since. We've got two other children besides James and Teddy. Albus and Lily,'

McGonagall beamed.

'Albus is nine, ten in January, he was born when we were in Canada, and Lily, who's seven, was born when we were in Austria. They're all at school today.'

A lightbulb went of in Ginny's head and she excused herself to contact Harry. She crossed the hall and went into the kitchen where they kept their one and only telephone, picked up the receiver and dialled the number for Harry's office. Over the years Ginny had become quite confident with the 'felly-tone'.

'Senior Project Manager Mr H Parker's office, may I ask who is calling?' The secretary picked up at the other end.

'Hello, it's Ginevra Parker, I'd like to speak to my husband.' Ginny took an authoritative tone.

'Hello Mrs Parker. I'm afraid Mr Parker is in a meeting at the moment, can I take a message or shall I ask him to call back later?'

'I'm sorry, but it's urgent, I need to speak to him now.'

'Oh, well if that is the case, then kindly hold for a moment while I fetch him. I shan't be a couple of minutes.'

'Thank you.'

The hold music then switched on and Ginny hummed to it while she waited. Eventually she heard her husband's familiar voice.

'Ginny? Is everything alright?' He sounded worried.

'Professor McGonagall knocked on our door this morning to tell James Parker and his parents that he has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'

You could almost hear Harry's jaw drop.

'P-pardon?'

'McGonagall, here, in our house.'

'Right. Well, I'll be there in half an hour, I can excuse myself from meetings for the rest of the day, I'll have my secretary go in my place and take notes.' Harry said before hanging up. Ginny put down the phone and returned to the living room.

She couldn't believe that they had been found. The walls that she and Harry had built around themselves over the period of decade were slowly being chipped away for as long as Professor McGonagall stayed. Ginny was kicking herself. How had she and Harry never foreseen this? They had told their children stories of Hogwarts, but from an early age James, Albus and Lily understood their situation and that, despite the fact that their parents had risked everything sending Teddy to Hogwarts (knowing that Remus and Dora would've wanted him to go), it was unlikely they would ever get to go, themselves, and had accepted that fact.

Harry and Ginny had talked about the magical education of their own children from time to time, but had never made any concrete decisions over whether they should be homeschooled or whether they should be sent to another magical school (possibly Mahoutokoro in the south of Japan as Harry was being considered for a position in Osaka) as Hogwarts had always been ruled out. Although she hadn't spoken with Harry yet, Ginny couldn't ignore the feeling in her stomach that she would be returning to England very soon.

**Author's Note: Thank you for reviewing and following and favouriting, it means a lot to me! I'm sorry if the conversation between Ginny and McGonagall (which takes up most of this chapter) seems a bit rushed but I kept reading it and reading it, but wasn't sure how to make it seem less so. Extra thanks if you've read this far - a gold star for you! I hope to get another update up tomorrow! - Bella**


	4. Discussions and Decisions

**Author's note: I have put this at the beginning this time because I have edited something in the Prologue because I realised that for this story to work better, only Victoire could have been born before Harry and Ginny left England, not a number of the other Weasley next generation as well as her. Also, thank you so so much (again) for the lovely reviews and the favouriting and the following of this story! More gold stars all around! - Bella**

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Harry couldn't believe it. McGonagall had found them without even meaning to. He rubbed his temples as he began to gather his belongings and scrawled a note to his secretary telling her that he had to leave and asking whether it would be possible for her to go to his meetings in place of him?

Taking his briefcase in his left hand, he opened his office door and dropped the note on the desk outside for the secretary to see, then strode over to the lifts, swiped his key card to activate it then pushed the button for the underground car park.

The drive out of the centre of Bucharest didn't take long at half past ten in the morning as the rush hour traffic had almost subsided, he reached his house in the suburbs at eleven o'clock.

To say that Professor McGonagall was startled by his appearance was an understatement. Never once before had he seen words fail his sturdy Transfiguration professor who was capable of surviving four stunning spells to the chest at the age of sixty. He promptly excused himself to remove the concealer from his scar, the contacts from his eyes and to put on his glasses. When he returned McGonagall visibly relaxed and beamed for the second time that day.

They all sat down once again. Between themselves, Professor McGonagall and Ginny explained to Harry the current situation. By the end of it, Harry was wearing the same pained expression as his wife and felt torn. While he was concerned for the the safety of his family, it was likely things were different now (in fact they were; the professor had kept not-so-subtlety hinting at that throughout the entire conversation) and as much as he hated to admit it, he believed in fate and destiny (with a past like his, how could he not?) and maybe this was a sign.

Harry and Ginny soon began to ask about their family, and McGonagall was more than happy to answer their questions.

Bill and Fleur now had two more children other than Victoire (who was born before they left): Dominique, thirteen, and Louis, ten. Percy had married a muggle-born witch by the name of Audrey and they had two daughters: Molly, eleven, and Lucy, eight. George and Angelina Johnson had ten year old twins, Roxanne and Fred. Ron and Hermione had Rose, nine, and Hugo, seven. Charlie remained a bachelor - 'married to his dragons' as Mrs Weasley had apparently said.

Both Harry and Ginny briefly wondered why they had heard nothing about this from Teddy, but then it wasn't likely he would have had much interaction, if any, with the Weasleys at Hogwarts, as he was older and in Hufflepuff (Dominique and Molly had been sorted into Gryffindor; Victoire had surprised everyone but her mother in becoming a Ravenclaw) like his mother.

At two o'clock, Professor McGonagall announced that she needed to leave, while she said that she would be in contact, she also promised to keep their whereabouts a secret until Harry and Ginny had decided what they would do. However, Ginny knew that her family would be hearing that they had met.

Harry sighed and loosened his tie as he followed his wife into the kitchen. By the time he got there, Ginny had already begun to make them some lunch out of the little food which was in the cupboards - the shopping trip having been forgotten. He sat down watching Ginny. She had a strange expression on, as if she was refraining from saying something.

'What is it?' Harry asked when her realised that his wife wasn't going to say anything without encouragement. Ginny had just finished making their chicken and spinach risotto by this point and headed him a bowlful. She sat down opposite him at the table and sighed.

'I'm just thinking, that's all.' Ginny answered before she took a mouthful of rice. Harry scoffed, if she was "just thinking" then he was a hippogriff. Ginny raised an eyebrow.

'We're both thinking, Ginny, I wanted something more specific than that.' He laughed. After hearing about his new family members and how his old ones were doing so well, he was in a rather good mood.

'I know we're both thinking, darling, but I just doubt that we're thinking the same thing.'

'When has that ever stopped you from voicing your thoughts before?'

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence before Ginny blurted out:

'Ithinkweshouldgoback!' She said it so quickly that Harry wasn't sure whether he had heard her correctly, or not.

'Pardon?'

Ginny took a breath.

'I think we should go back,' she said - slower this time, so Harry could hear. She looked away.

Ginny hadn't said it for a reason, she knew Harry would say it was too dangerous and then nothing would become of her saying those few words and everything would go back to how it was before Professor McGonagall knocked on their front door. She could see the grin slide off of her husband's face and knew they weren't going back, it was concrete, absolute, set in stone.

Except maybe it wasn't. Though Harry's smile had gone, it hadn't turned into a face of anger or disagreement, but one of deep thought.

'S- so do I, I think,' Harry said slowly. Ginny couldn't believe that he actually agreed with her.

Over the next couple of months, in the hours after their children had fallen asleep, Mr and Mrs Parker often discussed the appearance of the small old woman on their doorstep and what the three of them had spoken about. Each time they sat down, the conversation always ended with them coming closer and closer to agreeing to move back to England.

One morning on one of Harry's days off in early December, after the children had gone to to school, a barn owl knocked upon the living room window. Ginny, unsurprised, as it was the owl that McGonagall often used, let it in, gave it a treat from the tin with was now kept on the windowsill and allowed it to perch on the sofa (it always waited to take back a reply). She untied the parchment and opened it, a small envelope fell out but Ginny didn't take much notice of it until she read the note from McGonagall.

'Dear Harry and Ginny,

I hope you are all well. Molly managed to discover our correspondence and insisted that I sent a note from her along the next time I wrote.

Minerva

P.S. as usual the owl will wait for your reply.'

Ginny's eyes widened and she looked down at the envelope. It had her name on the front, written in Mrs Weasley's neat handwriting which was so similar to her own. She opened it just as Harry came in, having finished a late breakfast, and picked up the parchment from Professor McGonagall.

'Ginevra,

I was thrilled to hear, in September, that you ran into Minerva and that you and Harry are okay and in good health, and am ecstatic to find that I have three more grand-children. However I think it was completely irresponsible for you and Harry to disappear off like that so young and with a young child to care for, and even more so not to tell your family. I have only just found out that you have been corresponding with Minerva and I am again, unpleasantly surprised to find that you didn't decide to reconnect with any of your own kin. I shall expect you and your family for Christmas.

With love,

Mum'

Ginny noticed her mother's extremely formal tone and didn't like it one bit. She handed the letter to Harry who read it over and over, his expression becoming more and more conflicted each time. Eventually he looked up and nodded. Ginny knew that this meant he thought they should go. She couldn't help but agree with him slightly.

They were going home for Christmas.


	5. 20 Questions in Five Languages

Harry had booked the flights (they were still avoiding using magic) the day after they received the letters from Professor McGonagall and Mrs Weasley and the Parkers were packed and ready to leave the day after James, Albus and Lily finished school for the term on the sixteenth of December.

Early in the morning on the seventeenth, they all climbed into the car and Harry (complete with contacts and concealer as that was what he wore in his passport photograph) drove the family of five to Henri Coandă International Airport, a little further out of the city than their own house. The drive took only fifteen minutes but by the end of it the children had managed to play six rounds of Twenty Questions spanning the width of about four or five other languages, besides English. Though Ginny was half asleep for most of the time (it being five o'clock in the morning) she thought she could hear German, Spanish, Dutch and two dialects of French.

As the Parkers/Potters had moved around a lot, their children had been exposed to a lot of different languages and, depending on how long they spent in any one country and how old they were at the time, they picked each one up with varying degrees of success. For Harry and Ginny it had been harder, as adults, but nevertheless easier than many of their other expatriate friends who had lamented over and over at how lucky they were to pick up the so many languages, so fast (Harry had attributed it to magic).

Ginny, however, still marvelled over how quickly her children had been able to pick up notoriously difficult languages such as Russian or Mandarin to a conversational level (albeit without perfect accents) within a few months of them living in the countries, while for her it had taken much longer.

After checking in their luggage and going through security, it was about seven o'clock. The family then went to a small cafe to eat breakfast before boarding their flight at a quarter to eight. By half past eight they were in the plane and had taken off.

Ginny let her head hang back and she closed her eyes, feeling pleased with herself that she had won the 'rock-paper-scissors' match against Harry to see who would sit with the boys on the flight and who would sit with Lily. She was also very glad that Harry's boss had been 'more than happy' to let him book the flights through the company as Harry only flew places when it was required as a part of his job (all of the workers had allowances on how much they could fly back to see family, obviously Harry had never used that) so they had ended up with very nice business class seats. Lily was currently curled up on the seat next to Ginny with her head against her mother's arm, while the boys were playing bilingual I-Spy, something they often did while travelling, two rows behind.

The flight took three hours and they had landed and were taxiing along to the parking spot for the plane at Heathrow Airport by twenty-five to ten, British time. The sky was dull and it was raining a little - good old English weather.

They sped through passport control and subsequently baggage reclaim, then they collected their hire car and were soon on their way to Ottery St Catchpole.

It was half past one when the Potters finally pulled up in the dirt track beside The Burrow. Harry sighed as he unbuckled his seatbelt, then looked over to his wife who was slightly green.

'Mum is going to kill us,' she said quietly so the children wouldn't hear (not that they would as they had fallen asleep as soon as they got on the motorway and still hadn't woken up). At that statement Harry, himself began to feel slightly nauseous.

'I think so,' Harry replied before turning in his seat, 'we're here!' He called to his children; they began to stir. 'Who else did you mum say was staying over Christmas?' He fiddled with the car keys.

'Just Bill and Fleur with Victoire, Dominique and Louis, and Charlie. But the others are all coming round on Christmas Day,' Ginny said absentmindedly whilst fiddling with her handbag. Harry was secretly glad that Hermione and Ron weren't staying. He knew that, had they been, both of them would have cornered him and hexed him to Edinburgh and back, it least as they were only coming on Christmas Day, only one of them would get the chance.

The family of five got out of the car and looked at the topsy-turvey house, which both Harry and Ginny had once called home. There were exclamations of awe and wonderment from the children.

'When are we collecting Teddy?' Harry enquired - this small talk was calming his nerves.

'Four o'clock from Kings Cross,' answered Ginny, it seemed to do as much for her. She then nodded resolutely and began to walk up the path towards the house, her family followed.

Ginny reached the door first, but it opened before she could knock. It was Charlie. He hugged her quickly and shook Harry's hand, if he was perturbed by Harry's odd appearance, he said nothing. Ginny ushered the children into the kitchen which, surprisingly, was devoid of her mother. Before any introductions could be made, however, Charlie began to speak quickly and quietly.

'Mum's not pleased with the both of you. Dads with her upstairs helping her to sort out the bedrooms, she doesn't know you've got here yet, he sent me down to let you in and to warn you. She'll be fine when the children are around, she wont want to worry them, but the minute they leave the room she'll have a go at you. You know what she's like. Be careful what you say and complement her cooking.' Harry and Ginny smiled at the last part. 'But Dad isn't angry, just so you know, nor disappointed, he found out about all of the attempted attacks and everything not long after you went so he doesn't blame you for your actions, Ron and Hermione are the same,' Charlie put a hand on Ginny's shoulder and glanced up the stairs, steps could now be heard coming down. 'Good luck.' He smiled then went over the stove which he lit with his wand and put a kettle, apparently filed with water, on one of the gas rings.

Not long after, two people appeared in the kitchen. A tall, bespectacled man and and a shorter woman. Mr and Mrs Weasley. The latter spoke first.

'Ginny?'

**Author's Note: Another update! I hope you like this one. Thank you again for all the favourites, follows and reviews! -Bella**


	6. Return to the Green and Pleasant Land

'Hello Mum, Dad.' An awkward silence descended, only to be broken by the whistle of the kettle. Ginny silently thanked Charlie for his impeccable timing as he got out mugs and tea bags and milk whilst making as much sound as possible.

Arthur had tears in his eyes and rushed forwards towards his daughter, he pulled her into a tight hug. This broke the ice and the parents and their only daughter began to cry all together. James and Albus looked confused while Lily wore a big toothy grin whilst looking at the scene. Harry and Charlie watched with hands around mugs of tea and smiles upon their faces.

'They'll be on to you next,' he whispered, 'might want to get rid of those freaky eyes of yours.' Charlie smirked. Harry nodded and tanked him, briefly excusing himself to the bathroom to remove the contacts and concealer and to put on his glasses. He got back just as Mr and Mrs Weasley and Ginny had managed to stop crying and were talking to the children.

'Harry,' Mr Weasley said, delighted, as he shook Harry's hand then put a fatherly hand on his shoulder, 'how are you?'

'I'm well thank-you, Mr Weasley,' Harry nodded.

Mrs Weasley was still gushing over the children so Mr Weasley suggested that they go into the sitting room to talk. The way that he furtively glanced at his wife, then locked eye contact with Harry confirmed what Charlie had said: she wasn't pleased and she wanted explanations, regardless of how she was acting now.

They all sat down on various chairs and sofas. Harry and Ginny sat together and were talking to Mr Weasley and Charlie, while Mrs Weasley sat with Lily on her lap and was talking to her and the boys.

Harry and Ginny talked about their lives as muggles (which Mr Weasley was especially interested in), their travels, and Harry's job. In turn, Mr Weasley had talked about the lives of him and his other children and grandchildren and the British Wizarding world in general, and Charlie had talked about the dragons.

Ginny tuned out of what her husband, father and brother were talking about and turned her attention to her mother's conversation with her children. They were currently talking about school and James, with the help of Albus, was telling Molly about their old school in San Francisco.

'And there was this boy called Josh-' explained James. But apparently Albus had a problem with this and he turned to his brother and corrected him loudly in Romanian.

'No! He was called Jack, you idiot!'

Ginny turned to Albus and reprimanded him in English,

'Don't call your bother an idiot, Albus. And don't be rude, speak in English. You know how.'

Lily and James laughed at this, while Charlie's eyebrows rose. Albus mumbled an apology.

'Romanian?' He asked. Ginny nodded.

'Yes. Well, we may or may not be living there at the moment...' She said evasively. Harry laughed.

Charlie looked annoyed but the changed his expression to that of mock shock.

'You have been living there?! And you didn't think to visit me?! My, my, little sister, I am offended,' he shook his head and tutted.

They chatted like that for a while longer before Mrs Weasley announced that she and Ginny would go and make lunch. Ginny had apparently not been consulted on this, by the look on her face, but nevertheless followed her mother out. Harry realised that his wife was in for some questioning, so offered to help too. Mrs Weasley nodded and they went into the kitchen.

'Harry, dear, would you mind chopping up some potatoes?' She asked.

'Of course, where are they? I'll just go and-' Harry began to walk to the pantry.

'Oh no, don't be silly!' Mrs Weasley waved her wand and around twenty medium-sized potatoes zoomed out and began to wash themselves in the sink. Once they were clean, Harry picked up a knife and started to chop them by hand. While his wand was in Ginny's handbag, he didn't trust himself not to do something wrong when it came to magic, after over a decade without using it.

Molly then assigned Ginny to watch over the vegetable stock for the soup and sat down at the table.

'Would either of you care to tell me why you left your family, taking your toddler of a godson with you, and fled the country without telling anyone about it?' She spoke so calmly that any person who didn't know her and hadn't heard the words that she had said would have assumed her to be starting a civilised conversation. Ginny and Harry, however, knew that this was her way of showing disappointment and didn't feel like pointing out that they hadn't actually left England until three years after they went into hiding.

'We felt threatened,' said Ginny after a while. She planned on elaborating on that fact but her mother gave her no time to do so.

'We all felt threatened, Ginevra! But did the rest of us disappear? No we didn't!' She almost screeched.

'There were so many attempted attacks Mum, on us, not on you, or any of the others! Even poor Teddy was being dragged into it!'

'That was no reason to drag the boy further into the mess!'

'What were we supposed to do? Leave him while we ran off?' Ginny surprised herself at the description she gave her Harry's leaving. 'Ignore Remus', and Tonks' and Andromeda's last wishes and drop him into the muggle care system?'

'You could have stayed, or at least given him to us to look after if you were sure you were going and really concerned about his safety!' Mrs Weasley then turned to Harry who had been forgotten until now, along with the stock. 'I really would've expected more of you Harry.'

Harry was made uncomfortable by this, but said nothing. Ginny looked mutinous.

'Don't blame Harry for this! If we'd have done as you said, you would have stopped us from going. Harry and I had talked about telling someone before we left; Harry suggested it but I said that we shouldn't because we would have been talked out of it. Going into the hiding was the hardest decision we'd ever made, but it was the only thing that we could do to at least try to guarantee yours and everyone else's safety. It was only a matter of time before you and the others became targets, with us around!'

'I was not the "only thing", Ginevra.'

'Well what else was there then? Turn around to every Death Eater that came our way and tell them to leave us alone? The longer we stayed here in full view of the Wizarding population the worse everything would have got! Everything that happened, the attacks in Hogsmede, Diagon Ally and everywhere else weren't just coincidences; that Harry, Teddy and I just happened to be there; they were planned down to the nth degree after the wrong people found out we would've been where we were!'

'You could have gone to the Ministry, they would have had Aurors to keep and eye on you and to make sure nothing happened!' Mrs Weasley was now becoming desperate for arguments as she was overlooking important details, such as...

'Mum, Harry was Head of the Auror Office!' Ginny was exasperated.

Harry chose this moment to put the potatoes into a vat of water to cook. He tuned out the argument and took deep breaths. If this was his-mother-in-law's attitude, then there was unlikely to be a change in it, no matter how well they argued their case. Harry only realised, there and then, how big of a factor Mrs Weasley was in their permanently moving back to England. If she was going to constantly remind them of what she thought to be their failures, then maybe they didn't want to come home.

Sighing, Harry turned back a few minutes later and saw a sight he certainly wasn't expecting. Ginny was sobbing, Mrs Weasley was sobbing and they were apologising and embracing each other tightly. He was reminded of a similar sight with Mrs Weasley and Fleur all those years ago.

**Author's Note: I hope you like this chapter! This took me longer to write than the others, so far, and it was also the hardest. I'm not sure whether I really did this reunion justice, but oh well, I can always edit it later, once I finish the story. Again, thank you to everyone who is reading and commenting etc. on this story! - Bella**


	7. Trains and Clear Contact Lenses

After a lengthy and filling late lunch of tomato soup, salad and left-over quiche, everyone but Mrs Weasley (who was remaining at the Burrow to make dinner) got ready to leave for Kings Cross.

Harry rushed upstairs to his and Ginny's room to get a pair contact lenses from his suitcase, which had now been brought in from the car. He rummaged around until he found the bag in which he kept them, he opened it and then began mentally kicking himself. In his haste to pack, he had brought only one pair of blue lenses and six pairs of clear ones (which he had bought a couple of months back when there were none of his usual in stock). Since he needed the blue ones to travel home in, Harry had no choice to wear the clear ones. Part of his main disguise had just flown out of the window.

They arrived at the train station at just after a quarter to four. Despite the fact they hadn't crossed into Platform Nine-and-three-quarters yet, Harry felt extremely self-conscious about his appearance. Meanwhile his children were chatting excitedly about seeing Teddy again, and Charlie and Mr Weasley were discussing Christmas plans. Ginny was walking alongside him with their hands entwined. Eventually they reached the barrier.

'You ready?' Ginny squeezed Harry's hand. She knew that the last time Harry found himself at Kings Cross was after had Voldemort had cast the Killing Curse at him in the Forbidden Forest during the Battle of Hogwarts.

'Yeah, you?' Replied Harry. Ginny nodded then they stepped through the stone pillar behind Charlie.

The train had not yet arrived but the platform was very busy. Lots and lots of people were standing around, fewer than at the beginning or end of the year but a large number, nevertheless. Many adults were standing around and tapping their feet, Ginny supposed that they had been waiting for a while already.

As they walked through the crowd, looking for Bill and Fleur, no one gave them a second look, something Harry had been unable to experience, ever, while in this particular location and Ginny not since her first year, before the Chamber incident. Harry was beginning to visibly relax and Ginny wondered whether he was feeling nostalgic. She supposed that he wouldn't choose to go back to his adolescence, but he still had enough good memories to look back at those years somewhat fondly.

Soon Bill, Fleur and Louis came into view. Mr Weasley waved at his eldest son and he waved back. They all went over to where they were standing.

Ginny threw herself at her brother before he even realised who it was, while Harry greeted Fleur. Bill and Fleur were very happy to see Harry and Ginny and they were absolutely ecstatic when they discovered that they had arrived at the Burrow earlier in the afternoon to stay for Christmas. The Potter children, by this point, had broken the ice with Louis and the four were talking as if they had know each other for years.

As everyone was catching up, no one noticed the top of an acid green quill through the people.

The train pulled in at exactly four o'clock and as soon as it stopped students threw open the doors and began to pile out with their animals and trunks. Harry thought he could see one of Teddy's friends (he had been shown photographs), who he was sure was called Henry and was a prefect, holding open one of the doors. He hoped that Teddy would emerge soon.

Out of all the people the group was waiting for, Dominique came first. She bade goodbye to her friends quickly before greeting her family. Her father then introduced her to Harry, Ginny, James, Albus and Ginny and she smiled. Dominique had Bill's face shape and freckles, but inherited her mother's Veela-esque eyes and blonde hair (which was cut in a bob).

Victoire arrived not long after in the same fashion as her younger sister. She was around five foot seven inches tall and she looked exactly like her mother.

Out of the Weasley-Delacour siblings it seemed that Louis was the most like Bill (but with Fleur's hair) and Victoire most like Fleur (with Bill's height) and Domminique seemed to be a combination of both her mother and father.

And no one noticed the beetle scuttling up the pillar next to the group.

Teddy finally found everyone about ten minutes after the train arrived. By then the platform was almost clear, save for a short-ish queue for the barrier.

'Good term?' Harry asked as he hugged his godson. Teddy nodded. 'You were alright getting over on your own, then? Mrs Simmonds was okay?' Teddy nodded again.

'I was fine,' Teddy replied laughing slightly.

Another man who had always worked very closely Harry (being moved from country to country at the same times as Harry), by the name of Edward Simmonds, had a daughter (Alexandra) the same age as Teddy, who attended a Muggle boarding school in London. Ever since Teddy and Alexandra were eleven and first going to school in the United Kingdom (they were living in America at that time), Mrs Simmonds had always taken Alexandra and Teddy on the plane and dropped Teddy at Kings Cross in the first of September.

'That's good. And Alexandra?' Harry winked and nudged Teddy in his side. Teddy laughed and hit Harry back. Harry was utterly convinced that Teddy and Alexandra would end up a couple after spending their childhood years together.

'Alexandra is fine, too. She had her GCSEs last year and passed with straight As,' Teddy said (he had gotten all Es and Os I his OWLs) and he smile. He seemed distracted for a couple of seconds before shaking his head. 'I swear I told you this in a letter three months ago.'

Harry paused before answering.

'Yes. You did,' he laughed. Lily was now demanding Teddy's attention so Harry dropped back to talk to Bill and Fleur.

No one noticed the camera flash as they stepped through the wall into the muggle world.


	8. Of Articles and Angry Sister-In-Laws

**New chapter for you all! I hope you like it!**

Harry awoke at around half past seven the following morning. He looked up at the ceiling of the room, which had been Ginny's as a child, and then got out of bed. He put on his slippers, pulled a jumper on over the t-shirt in which he had slept, and then retied his pyjama trousers. Rubbing his eyes, after putting on his glasses, Harry left his sleeping wife and daughter (who was in a put-me-up bed by the window) to go downstairs for a cup of tea.

Mrs Weasley was already awake when Harry reached the kitchen and she had already made a pot of tea which was steaming on the table. Harry poured himself a cup and stood leaning against the counter while Mrs Weasley informed him that they would be having a full English breakfast in an hour or so, once everyone else was awake.

Just as she was telling Harry who else was already up, they were interrupted by the newspaper delivery owl, who was knocking on the window. Mrs Weasley let it in and paid him a Knut for the paper, which she untied from its leg, and the owl left before being given a treat. She unfolded the paper and scanned the front page, she groaned and handed it to Harry. His eyes widened as he read.

'HARRY POTTER REAPPEARS!'

Underneath was a large picture of him, Ginny and his children with half of Charlie from yesterday while they were waiting at Kings Cross. The caption said: 'Harry Potter stands on Platform Nine-and-three-quarters with his wife, Ginevra Potter (née Weasley), and three children. Turn to page five for more.'

That was the surprise for Ron, Hermione and the rest of the family out of the window. Harry turned to the designated page and re-read the same headline, then started to read the article, which was separated with various pictures of himself, Ginny, his children, Teddy, Bill and his family, Mr Weasley and Charlie.

'Yesterday, over a decade since they were last seen in public, the Potters were sighted at Kings Cross station, waiting for the Hogwarts express with their three children.

'They arrived with Mrs Potter's father and brother, Arthur Weasley (of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement) and Charles Weasley (of the International Sanctuary for Dragons, Romania) at around a quarter to four, and later met with William and Fleur Weasley (both of Gringotts Bank) and their son, Louis. Judging by the reactions of Mr and Mrs W Weasley, they had not seen Mr and Mrs Potter for some time.

'It was noted that Mr Potter was no longer wearing his trademark glasses. However, as he has not been seen for many years in Wizarding Britain, it is a almost certain that he has been living as a muggle and therefore may have used muggle techniques such as contact lenses (small lenses which are placed directly in the eye) or corrective eye surgery (where small lights are used to correct the vision of a person) to prompt his discard of his glasses.

'When the school train arrived it became clear who the Potters were waiting for as Mr Potter's godson, Ted Lupin (son of Remus and Nymphadora Lupin, who both died in the Battle of Hogwarts), joined them shortly after exiting the train.

'The welfare of Mr Lupin had been subject to questioning after Mr John Robertson (Head of the Auror Office at the time of the Potters' disappearance) stated after being asked about the whereabouts of Mr and Mrs Potter and Mr Lupin, 'after speaking with their family, I was told they were just as clueless to where they are as we are, although they agree that there was no foul play involved and that it was a conscious decision made by both Mr and Mrs Potter. That being said, I highly doubt that young Mr Lupin is still with them, it is likely that he would have been placed in the care of the Muggle authorities by now.'

'It seems as though this was wrong, as Mr Lupin was heard enquiring about 'everyone back home' and whether or not the 'heat wave the weather people were expecting' ever came. We can assume from this that Mr Lupin had been living with the Potters.

'The reason for the Potters' sudden return is, as of yet, unknown. We hope that the family with come forwards with a statement soon.'

Harry mimicked his mother-in-law's reaction and groaned. He thought they'd be fine. He thought that no one would recognise him and he though no one had.

Knowing that Hermione wasn't one to oversleep, and also knowing it was likely she still got the newspaper at the same time she always had since she left school (seven thirty-five in the morning), Harry guessed that he didn't have much time before she arrived, probably without Ron as he expected, even after all these years, that he was unlikely to get out of bed unless he could smell food.

'How long do you think we've go until Hermione gets here?' Harry asked Mrs Weasley, who was now reading the full article. She looked up, thoughtful.

'Five minutes, maybe ten if she was working late last night. I'd go and wake Ginny, if I were you, Harry.'

Harry complied and rushed upstairs. When he opened the door he saw Ginny sitting up in bed, combing her hair with her fingers. Lily was still fast asleep.

'We're in the paper, front page. Your Mum says we've got less than five minutes before our dear Hermione breaks down the front door.' Harry then rushed over to his suitcase and began to pull out clothes.

'Front page?! Of the Daily Prophet?!' Ginny exclaimed, waking Lily. Harry nodded as he pulled on his jeans.

'Morning,' mumbled Lily as she sat up, rubbing his eyes.

'Morning, darling. I'm sorry I woke you,' Ginny apologised as she walked over to her bag and pulled out something to wear. 'You'll need to get ready now, your Aunt Hermione is going to be here soon.'

'Really? I thought she and Uncle Ron weren't coming until Christmas Day?' Lily recalled. She pushed back the covers and got out of her bed.

'Well, she heard that we were here, and she decided to come early. Come on darling, here is your nice dress, why don't you put that on, then I'll plait your hair.' Lily nodded and took the navy, long-sleeved dress from her mother.

'The boys aren't up yet, I'll go and get them, shall I?' Harry offered.

'Yes please. They're in George's old room.'

Then Harry was gone.

About three minutes later there was an almighty screech coming from downstairs, which woke everyone who was still sleeping.

'HARRY JAMES, GINEVRA MOLLY GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!'

Lily looked at her mother (who was now dressed and now plaiting her daughter's hair) in alarm. Ginny just chuckled.

'Was that Aunt Hermione, Mummy?'

'Yes darling. Don't worry though, she doesn't bite.' Ginny finished the long braid and secured it with a hair elastic. 'However I think that we'll let your father to and see her first.'

But a minute or so later, neither Harry nor Ginny had gone down to the kitchen.

'IF ONE OF YOU DON'T COME DOWN RIGHT NOW I WILL HEX YOU!'

Ginny, not one to want to test Hermione further, sighed and announced that she was going downstairs; calling her husband a 'scaredy-cat' in the process as he had obviously left it to Ginny to greet Hermione first.

She had almost reached the bottom of the stairs when she stopped to take a breath. She was secretly quite glad that Lily had volunteered to go and check on her father and brothers, leaving Ginny to face Hermione alone. She was sure that Hermione would have some things to say to her which wouldn't suit her daughter's seven-year-old ears.

'Morning!' Said Ginny in a song-song voice as she came off the stairs and into the kitchen. Her mum and Hermione were talking while a little girl with red, bushy hair, whom Ginny assumed to be Rose, sat on the counter with a bacon sandwich in her hands. When they heard Ginny they turned to look at her. Mrs Weasley smiled, encouragingly while Hermione looked positively furious.

Ginny gave a sideways glance to Rose, which Hermione noticed. She knew there was going to be shouting so maybe it would be better if she wasn't in the room. Hermione then walked over to her daughter.

'Rosie, darling, why don't you go into the living room and talk to Victoire? She got back from school yesterday, so I'm sure she'd like to see you.' Ginny was surprised at how similar Hermione sounded to her own mother.

Rose nodded and hopped off of her chair and went into the sitting room.

The the tirade began.

Ginny had expected it, really, despite what Charlie had said about Hermione not blaming her and Harry for their actions.

Hermione was going on about everything from not telling her about leaving (understandable) to scolding her for not collecting Harry's correct contacts (apparently Hermione had correctly deduced the reason why they were spotted ('well how else would you have managed to hide?!') and blamed it on her: unreasonable). Ginny judged that she was torn between being angry at her and Harry for leaving, and wanting to tell off her two best friends for being caught by the Daily Prophet.

Hermione was just in the middle of shouting about not leaving a note when Lily came in from the staircase, looking slightly frightened. Hermione stopped screaming instantly.

'Mummy, Daddy said not to come down but I wanted to see if you were alright,' she gave a wary look to Hermione, 'are you?' Lily said timidly. A smile spread across Ginny's face and it was at times like these that she really appreciated her seven-year-old daughter's small size, as she picked her up.

'Yes I'm fine, darling.'

'But Mummy, you said Aunt Hermione didn't bite, but she was yelling at you,' Lily switched to Dutch as she obviously didn't want scary Aunt Hermione to hear. Ginny was unsure where Lily had learned the language from (neither her, nor James, nor Albus had ever lived in any place where it was spoken; although Ginny, Harry and Teddy had lived in the Netherlands for a couple of years before James was born, so they may have picked it up around the house).

'Don't worry, she is just a little angry with Daddy and I at the moment; she's lovely really. Why don't you go and meet your cousin Rose, whose next door with Victoire and Dominique?' Ginny also spoke in Dutch.

Almost mirroring Rose's actions; Lily nodded, got down from her mother and went into the other room.

Hermione seemed to be speechless as she watched Lily the Second leave the room. When she was gone, she wore a very strange expression, of which emotion, Ginny couldn't place. Hermione then walked over to her best friend, turned sister-in-law, and embraced her with tears in her eyes. Ginny was so surprised that she didn't respond at first, but after a split second she returned the gesture.

'You know Rose doesn't have a godmother?' Hermione said quietly into Ginny's ear. 'Ron and I, we'd always hoped that you'd come back.'

'Neither does Lily,' replied Ginny. 'It's not the same moving about.'

'Will you..?' The two women asked the question at the same time. They broke the hug, looked at each other and nodded. Then they burst into tears.

Harry chose that moment to enter the kitchen with James and Albus. He raised his eyebrow at the sight before him, so similar to that of yesterday, except it was Hermione instead of Mrs Weasley. Mrs Weasley just smiled at them all.


	9. Canary cookies?

**Author's note: I'm extremely sorry for not updating recently. During my holidays (around a couple of weeks ago) I started my revision plan which left very little time for writing, I still managed to get some chapters up but it was difficult.**

**Now I have gone back to school after the Easter Holidays and I have extra revision lessons after school for my GCSEs which start on the 20th May, as well as revision at home; I really have next to no time for writing this. That combined with a writers block has led to my lack of updates.**

**Aside from this, I shan't be writing anymore until my exams are over (on the 19th June) and I shan't be able to update for a couple of weeks after that. **

**However, I AM NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY. I'm just asking you to bear with me for the next two-and-a-half months.**

**That said, I hope you enjoy this mini-chapter and I'm sorry for the lack of Christmas detail (as I said, writer's block).**

**-Bella**

The adults spent the morning deep in conversation in the kitchen. Harry and Ginny explained about James' Hogwarts letter and how that, because of it, they were feeling inclined towards moving back to England. They were only interrupted when the fireplace roared to life and a slightly dishevelled Hugo Weasley stepped out with the news that Ron had been called into work (he was Deputy Head of the Auror Office) and that he would come to collect his family and see Harry and Ginny when Mr Robertson allowed him to leave.

Meanwhile, the children made their own entertainment.

Rose had taken a liking to Albus; soon after their meeting, the two of them had smuggled around fifteen books upstairs to Percy's old bedroom. When Fleur had gone to check on them at around twelve o'clock, she had found Albus giving Rose German lessons, while being surrounded by about three different open books on the goblin wars (which Rose, and apparently Albus, found quite fascinating).

Hugo and Lily had gotten talking and they had gone outside (without permission) to fly. For Lily, this was obviously her first time, but she took to it like a duck to water.

Louis and James had also gone outside but they had disappeared into the orchard and they didn't come out until lunch was called at half past one. They were both wearing mischievous grins.

The three eldest: Teddy, Victoire and Dominique had opted to stay in the living room. They chatted about school and tried to get to know each other a little more, switching between French and English the whole time.

It was mid-afternoon before Louis' and James' plan came to light. The adults had returned to their conversation shortly after lunch, this time in the living room, while Teddy, Victoire and Dominique went to bake biscuits in the kitchen. At some point the two eleven year olds had slipped something into the mixture.

When Victoire offered the biscuits to the adults they all took one and promptly turned into canaries after taking a bite, much to Victoire's embarrassment. However there was no doubt in who was really behind it as Louis and James could be heard in the kitchen giggling at their aunts', uncles' and parents' misfortune.

Ron arrived just after dinner and was extremely happy to see his best friend and only sister. Unlike his mother and wife, he had forgiven them entirely and was just enjoying having them back.

Over the next few days, various people dropped into the Burrow. Neville and Hannah Longbottom and their daughter, Alice; Rolf, Luna, Lorcan and Lysander Scamander; Dean and Pavarti Thomas; Seamus and Lavender Finnegan and their son Finlay.

Even on Christmas Day, Percy and Audrey (with Molly and Lucy) and George and Angelina (with Fred and Roxanne), who hadn't originally planned to spend the day at the Burrow, came bearing gifts.

Their suitcases significantly heavier, the Potters left the Burrow on New Years Day and began the long drive back to Heathrow Airport. They arrived back at their home in Romania that evening.


End file.
